The present invention relates to a digger apparatus which may be removably attached to a conventional hydraulic loader. More particularly, the invention relates to an elongated scoop member with which, when attached to and operated in conjunction with a hydraulic loader, trees, bushes, and other plants can be dug up quickly. Uniquely, the invention allows plants to be removed with little or no disruption to the soil immediately below and surrounding the base of the plant. By avoiding this disruption, the plant's roots go unharmed, thereby heightening the plant's chances of survival.
The removal of trees, bushes, and similarly sized plants for transplantation purposes has generally presented a problem to plant nurseries, landscapers, and gardeners. Conventionally, a variety of apparatus have been used in removal methods which are labor-intensive, and therefore not cost effective, and which do not guarantee that the plant will be extricated in a damage-free state. One such conventional removal method utilizes a hand shovel. Hand shoveling, however, is labor intensive. Furthermore, a hand shovel is much smaller in proportion to a medium- to large-size plant and the amount of soil surrounding the base of the plant that must be removed with it. Such a smaller size requires repeated entry of the shovel in and around the plant's base in order to loosen the plant from the soil. This increases the likelihood that the plant's most sensitive roots, which grow immediately beneath and around the base of the plant, will be damaged. Even if the plant is loosened from the soil with little damage, the fact that a hand shovel provides little leverage for lifting the plant will likely result in further disruption of the soil around the roots and therefore damage to the plant. Both high labor costs and high loss rates increase a nursery's or a landscaper's cost of doing business.
A hydraulic loader with a standard rectanguloid-like bucket may conventionally be used to remove plants. While the use of this device, decreases the time needed to extricate medium- and large-size plants from the soil, this savings in time is eventually lost due to the shape of the conventional hydraulic loader bucket and the corresponding shape of the block of soil which is removed through the bucket's use. The rectanguloid-shaped bucket of conventional hydraulic loaders is designed to remove and transport quantities of dirt, rock etc.--not to remove plants for transplantation purposes. As a result, plants removed with the conventional bucket have their roots encased in a block of soil which, like the bucket, is rectanguloid in shape. However, as the sensitive roots of any plant reside generally only within a small radius of the base of the plant, the bulk of the soil which the conventional bucket removes is unnecessary and must be trimmed off to produce a commercially saleable and easily transportable product. Trimming requires labor which increases costs. Additionally, because conventional buckets remove more soil than is necessary, conventional buckets require greater inter-plant spacing in which to operate. This prevents a nursery or landscaper from growing plants under economically ideal, dense conditions. Finally, conventional buckets in no way accommodate and provide upright stable support for a plant during the digging, lifting, and transportation of it. The lack of this support leads to increased damage to the plant and heightens the loss rate.
Conventionally, various attachments to a hydraulic loader or a hydraulic loader's conventional bucket have been used to remove plants from the soil. However, these attachments generally have a scoop which is too short to dig to the depth required to remove a plant without damage to its sensitive roots or do not provide stable support for the plant after it has been removed and while it is being transported.
The present invention solves the removal problem. With its use, damage to the plant and costs are minimized. The present invention provides a digger which includes an elongated concave scoop-like structure and which may be easily adapted for attachment to any conventional hydraulic loader. The scoop's elongated shape allows the digger to cut the soil around the base of the plant to a sufficient depth. The scoop's width allows the digger to cut sufficient amount of soil around the plant's base so that repeated reentry is not needed. The scoop's concave shape insures that, when the scoop is operated directly beneath the base of the plant, the plant's roots will be removed with the desired root ball-like structure in place.
Besides removing plants, the concave shape of the scoop allows an operator to dig concave-shaped holes which efficiently accommodate a plant and its root ball with little additional digging required.
Finally, placing the longitudinal axis of the scoop of the digger at an angle to its frame facilitates the break-up and movement of hard-packed, surface soil by the digger.
In addition to the scoop, the invention includes a frame. The frame may include a backing plate to which the scoop is attached. Attachment of the backing plate to the hydraulic loader may be accomplished through a number of means. This may include an attachment plate. It is the hydraulic loader and specifically its conventional hydraulic cylinder/piston arrangement which provide the means by which the digger through attachment to the hydraulic loader by the frame is able to move.
An object of the present invention is to provide an unique scoop-like digger which may be easily adapted for attachment to any hydraulic loader, thereby increasing the loader's versatility.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a digger with an elongated concave shape which may be easily adapted for attachment to any hydraulic loader and through which plants may be dug up efficiently and without damage.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a scoop-like digger in which the base of the scoop is in closer proximity to the ground at the attachment point of the scoop to its frame and higher from the ground at the lip of the scoop so that the weight of a plant or plants transported on the digger naturally shifts to a stable position to the rear and against the frame of the digger.
A further object of this invention is to provide a scoop-like digger which may be used to move soil which is above or near the surface and may be hard-packed.
These together with other objects and advantages will become subsequently apparent and reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.